When the betrothal of Elizabeth Velvet Cavendish and Robert Greysteel Montgomery is arranged by their parents, the union seems doomed from the start. Nor only is the impetuous Velvet averse to Greysteel's swaggering charms, but she favors Charles Stuart, the exiled heir to the throne. After Montgomery helps Charles ascend to the kingship, Velvet's affections are even further tipped in the young monarch's favor. But Greysteel's resolve is a force to be reckoned with, and Velvet's resistance is about to be tested by his unrelenting desire.